The Seafood Restaurant Cookbook
Fish pie recipe
Rick Stein and Jill Stein | 01 Jul 2026
Recipe from The Seafood Restaurant Cookbook
by Rick Stein and Jill Stein
I grew up eating my mother’s fish pie, which was very like this one, although she didn’t use smoked haddock (but I love its smokiness) and I avoid using salmon. For a long time, I felt the restaurant didn’t need staples like fish pie – I felt they weren’t restaurant-y enough. But it’s not true – hearty dishes are exactly what we need sometimes.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 1 small onion, thickly sliced
- 2 cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 600ml whole milk
- 300ml double cream
- 450g skin-on cod fillet
- 225g undyed smoked haddock fillet
- 4 eggs
- 100g butter
- 3 tablespoons plain flour
- 5 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
- freshly grated nutmeg
- 1.25kg floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper or King Edward, peeled and quartered
- 1 egg yolk
- salt and freshly ground white pepper
Method
- Stud a couple of onion slices with the cloves. Put these in a large pan with the bay leaf, 450ml of the milk, and the cream, cod and smoked haddock. Bring the liquid just to the boil, then simmer for 8 minutes. Lift the fish out on to a plate and strain the cooking liquor into a jug. Set both aside, leaving the fish until it is cool enough to handle.
- Meanwhile, hard-boil the eggs for just 8 minutes. Drain them and leave to cool. Peel the cooled eggs, and cut them into chunky slices.
- Break the cooled fish into large flakes, discarding the skin and any stray bones. Sprinkle the flakes over the base of a shallow 1.75-litre ovenproof dish. Arrange the egg on top.
- Melt 50g of the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Off the heat, gradually stir in the reserved cooking liquor. Return the pan to the heat and bring the liquid to the boil, stirring all the time. Simmer gently for 10 minutes to cook out the flour, then remove the pan from the heat once more, stir in the parsley and season with nutmeg, salt and white pepper. Pour the sauce over the fish and leave to cool. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, boil the potatoes for 25–30 minutes until tender. Drain them, then tip them back into the pan and mash with the rest of the butter and the egg yolk. Season with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Beat in enough of the remaining milk to form a soft, spreadable mash. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan.
- Spoon the potato over the filling and mark the surface with a fork. Bake for 35–40 minutes until piping hot and golden brown on top.
Jack's chef notes
This is a classic fish pie that came back on to the menu after Dad made Seafood Lovers’ Guide for TV, at around the turn of the millennium. Like he says, sometimes comfort is everything we’re looking for.
Charlie's wine notes
Talk about comfort. I don’t mess around with matches when it comes to fish pie – reach for a complementary, buttery Chardonnay.
